Orchard Planning Basics

Don't read this section until you have read the "You
Need a Plan" section! Answering most of the basic questions there and
determining your market niche, management capabilities, equipment needs, and
capital investment needs is really a prerequisite to planning the first
orchard.

Your "Market Niche" should be one of the biggest determinants in
the varieties you choose and the planting systems you can employ.

Higher
quality fruit is generally produced on smaller trees than larger ones.

Current equipment holdings often drives planting distances
and densities, unless you feel you can justify smaller equipment.

Capital resources and your relationship with your banker can
limit your choices. Fewer dollars mean that you probably will plant fewer
trees, in lesser densities than if you had a bottomless bucket on money.

Management capabilities are critical. If you really pay
attention to detail in all your current crops, then you stand a better chance of
succeeding at higher densities. If you have a lot of different crops to
produce and not a lot of time, then lower densities are generally more
forgiving.

Once you have your figured out your target market, figured
out how to deal with particular equipment needs, determined that you have
sufficient capital resources, and know your management capabilities, then you
can decide on how intense you want to grow fruit and what kinds of orchard
systems are for your operation.

A few common sense rules of thumb:

Pick the best site you can!

Prepare your site before planting. Make sure
you have adjusted your soil to a proper pH--- usually in the 6.5-7.0 range if
possible.
Poor drainage issues
should be resolved. Increasing the organic matter in the soil prior to
planting always helps. Once you
plant you don't have the options to make corrections as easily as when it was a
raw piece of ground. Often your next chance in 10-20 years down the road,
when you replant.

Choose the highest density system you feel comfortable with for your initial
planting. After some experience, you can plant more or less intense
systems based on your experience and past success. I often recommend
moderate density systems for "newbies" as I feel there is more allowance for
making mistakes that aren't "terminal". If you are a meticulous manager
and plan to stay on top of the game all the time, then high density systems
might make more sense for you. If you are very time constrained and not
devoted to the game, then moderate density systems offer more allowance for
mistakes.

If possible, orient your tree rows north and south for best light interception,
unless there is a factor limiting like grade, field size and
orientation, prevailing high winds, etc.

Plan on investing significant time the first season to get the orchard off to
the best start possible. Major screw ups in the first year will almost
always limit the production and profitability in future years. Your second
and subsequent seasons until production starts usually require less intense
management. If you are in an area with lots of deer population, plan on
some way of protecting your new orchard from the very day of planting!
Deer browsing, feeding, and pressure can be relentless, and ruin a new planting
literally overnight!

Plan for the unexpected! High winds, critters,
100 year record rains, you name it! Murphy's
Law is almost always in effect in the orchard business. For example, 2012
was noted for drought across the country, hurricane in the Northeast, killing
freezes in Michigan not seen since the 1940s, etc.